Firework
by Faecat
Summary: We all know Jolt, but we don't know everything.  A short glimpse of the mech that is Jolt.


_For Darklight8121. This is your price for winning the 'Significance' contest from Science and Fiction. Congratulations! I hope you enjoy this oneshot songfic as much as I enjoyed writing it!_

_**Song:** Firework by Katy Perry_

**Disclaimer: I do not own Transformers, or any of the characters within. I do not own any part of the song by Katy Perry _'Firework'_. The only thing that is mine through this is the plot line.**

_**Summery: **We all know Jolt, but we don't know everything. A short glimpse of the mech that is Jolt.

* * *

_

_**Do you ever feel like a plastic bag**_

_**Drifting through the wind, wanting to start again?**_

_**Do you ever feel, feel so paper thin**_

_**Like a house of cards, one blow from caving in?**_

"What do you _want_ from me? I've given everything I can for this...and I can't do it. I simply cannot process the programing!"

"Is that it then? That's how you're going to let it all fall?" The mech before him loomed, his stature far larger than his underling. "Is that all you're worth?"

"I don't understand what you think I can do about it!" Jolt was young; one of the youngest thrust into the training program actually, and he was always pushed to be better than what he thought he was capable of. He wasn't even in his final frame yet, what did they expect? That he would be some prodigal fledgeling that could take the medical practice by storm? "I can _not_ process the programing, it's not possible."

The mech that stood before Jolt was what some called brutal, unforgiving, cold...he never once argued with it, but he did dare any to question the results he produced from the young mechs he took on. "You chose this path, Jolt. I did not. If you cannot uphold the requirements, maybe you need to reconsider yourself." There was no forgiveness, no understanding, or sympathy in the mech's optics. He was challenging Jolt and it was up to the fledgeling to accept or deny the challenge to his character. "Leave the institute. Go back to your lavish existence of...oh, wait? You don't have anything else, do you?" The sarcasm was so heavy, Jolt thought it alone might crush him. "But that is not my problem, is it? If you can't do it, leave. I have no use for you."

"I..."

"Leave, Jolt. LEAVE!"

It took nothing more to send the small fledgeling running from his superior's office.

Maybe he wasn't capable of processing the programing he needed to enter the medibot training yet, but that didn't mean he wouldn't ever be able to. Leave? Never. No, he was no prodigy, but he was something far better than that; stubborn.

_**Do you ever feel already buried deep?**_

_**Six feet under screams but no one seems to hear a thing**_

_**Do you know that there's still a chance for you**_

_**'Cause there's a spark in you?**_

"Can't hurt..." he reminded himself as he marched through the open doors. If he couldn't download the information the traditional way, he would find another way.

"You!" Jolt cringed as someone shouted at him. "Come here, I need a spare pair of hands!"

Looking over, Jolt's tanks felt as though they shifted to a whole new location – somewhere closer to his feet. It was a full medic yelling for him, someone who would know instantly he knew nothing and didn't belong here. "Sorry, sir...but I-I don't really...I mean I'm supposed to be..."

"Get. Over. Here." The medic didn't bother to look at Jolt, didn't even stop in what he was doing, but his words were clear cut and final. If Jolt walked away, there would be things far worse to pay than the consequences of being discovered in the medical bay without authorization.

"S-sure." He slid up beside the medic, his spark pulsing wildly, and every last bit of his ability focused on keeping his cooling fans from revving too loudly, or his intakes to cycle too noticeably.

Looking down on the 'bot the medic was working on, he could feel his processor spinning, taking in information and trying to piece together the situation before him. The mech didn't look damaged, but the medic had laid open the mech's chest plating for some reason.

"Basic maintenance," the medic explained, still not bothering to look at the one assisting him. "Hold this," he handed Jolt a bundle of internal wiring. "This 'bot was far overdue for replacements. You can see that his systems were struggling with the worn components because of the corrosion happening here," the medic pointed to what he was explaining quickly before returning to his work. "Got it?"

Surprisingly, Jolt found that he did. The medical programing had not been compatible with his fledgeling processor, but information introduced like this seemed to be setting just fine. "Yeah."

"Good. Pay close attention, I hate to repeat myself."

Jolt did pay attention. This was exactly what he had been looking for, exactly what he had been hoping to find when he came here. The fear of being caught left him moments into the process, and before they were done, he was even reconnecting some of the 'bot's sensors himself.

Once they had closed the mech's chest plating, the medic finally turned to look at Jolt. "You did good."

Jolt's intakes froze. He saw the look in the medic's optics. He knew. Now he would be forcibly removed from the medical bay and the institute would wipe him from their registration banks.

"What's you're name?"

He could lie, buy himself some time, but it wouldn't take long for the medic to figure out who he really was and then the consequences would be far worse. Was it worth it?

"I can pull your designation myself, but it's far better if you just speak up," the medic seemed to read Jolt's mind.

"Jolt."

The medic didn't give any sign of what he was thinking, or if he was currently contacting security to have the fledgeling removed. "You're young." Simple, to the point, but still not giving the young mech any indication of his impending fate.

"Y-yeah."

A few more painfully long kliks passed before the medic turned away. "I want you to report to me again first thing next orn. Don't be late."

_**You just gotta ignite the light and let it shine**_

_**Just own the night like the 4th of July**_

"You're still here." The mech in charge of Jolt's training stopped in front of him, looking him over as if he expected there to be something written on the fledgeling that would tell him why he was still there.

"Yes, sir." Jolt didn't look his superior in the optics. Quite honestly he was terrified the medic had contacted him and told him that Jolt had trespassed in the medical facility posing as an aide. Why he was taking his dear sweet time about dismissing him was beyond him, but he was sure it was coming.

"Good." The mech moved on to examine the other young 'bots under his supervision, completely ignoring the audible screech of Jolt's intakes as they froze.

_**'Cause baby, you're a firework**_

_**Come on, show 'em what you're worth**_

_**Make 'em go, oh**_

_**As you shoot across the sky**_

"Jolt! Hurry up!" The fledgeling scrambled to cross the medical bay without knocking into anyone in the chaos around them. Something had gone wrong somewhere, he wasn't even sure what had really happened, only that there were large numbers of injured 'bots suddenly crowding the medical facility he had been moonlighting at and he was pressed hard to keep up with his medic.

"Watch it!" One of the other medics scolded as he nearly slammed right into the fledgeling as their paths crossed.

"Sorry, medic!" He didn't pause to see who had nearly run him over, but kept sense of processor enough to know to take the blame and move on. There was no time for arguments over who was actually in the wrong...especially when he wasn't even supposed to be here, technically.

Reaching his destination, he didn't even pause to consider the devastation he was looking on, merely set right into the routine his medic had trained him for during any procedure he was allowed to assist on. Set the table, listen for commands, and respond quickly.

"I need more temporary plating," his medic ordered. The stress in the mech's voice was a little disturbing to Jolt, but he understood the situation was beyond what he was used to. This was the final push when it came to the medical field – the all or nothing, the give all and then some, do or let die...literally.

Jolt hurried back to the supply room, wasting not a klik that could not be spared; however, once he arrived he found that there was no more temporary plating to be had. There had been a shortage to start with, and with this sudden influx they had burned through what precious amount they had. "Slag..." He had to think, there was no way he could go back to his medic empty handed.

Looking through what they did have, he quickly came up with what he hoped would be an acceptable substitute, and returned to where his medic was silently cursing about some complication he had discovered.

"Jolt, where have you been? Never mind, no time. Give me the plating."

"Sorry, medic, but there was none. I thought we could try this instead..." He held up a container with a thick, oddly colored paste in it.

"Sealing compound? That's not going to work, Jolt! I don't have time for this..."

"It was sealing compound, yes. It was the only option I could think of – I mixed it with some fillers and some ground plating scraps..." Jolt reviewed his thought process. Did it actually make sense? Was he being a fool? What made him think it would work?

The medic looked furious, but he also looked like he knew better than to just take out his frustrations on the fledgeling. He took the compound and studied it for a moment before testing the substance with his own hands. "Jolt..."

"I'm sorry, I thought it would work..."

"You're a genius."

_**Baby, you're a firework**_

_**Come on, let your colors burst**_

_**Make 'em go, oh**_

_**You're gonna leave 'em falling down**_

"You know your stuff, medic. I'll give you that."

"Of course I do. When have I ever been wrong."

The two mechs studied one another; the Medibot Institution Overseer, and the Chief Medical Officer of the medical facility linked to the institute, a faint smile shared between the two of them.

"You think he'll make it?"

"I think he'll take it and hit the ground treads turning. There will be no stopping him." The medic dropped a datapad on the overseer's desk and walked away. "I'm keeping him under my wing until he graduates to full medic."

"Really?" The overseer watched the medic leave, a look of pure astonishment on his face. "Well, Jolt, you got Ratchet. No one has done that in vorns...good luck, fledgeling."

_**You don't have to feel like a waste of space**_

_**You're original, cannot be replaced**_

_**If you only knew what the future holds**_

_**After a hurricane comes a rainbow**_

"Ratchet, you can't leave me behind!" Jolt glared up at the medic, his mentor of several vorns. "I'm still under your training, I can't complete it without you!"

The CMO paused in his diligent preparations. "I can't take you Jolt." There was the look of despair on Ratchet's face that Jolt couldn't over look. "There is no guarantee that this mission will be a success. That's why we're only taking a skeleton crew – only one medic."

"But I'm not a medic!"

"Exactly." There would be no further discussion with the CMO, Jolt knew that. So he left the medic to his duties.

Standing outside the medical facility, Jolt tried to comprehend his future. The war had consumed the planet, the fact that the facility still stood was a given grace in and of its self, but it was little in comparison to everything else. The institute was gone. Most of his fellow trainees were gone – either deactivated or falling into Decepticon allegiance. There had been more Autobot medics before, but the 'Con's had targeted them first. If there were no medics to repair their enemies, their victory would be much swifter in coming. It was sound, if sad, logic.

Where would he go now? He wasn't a full medic, and at this point there wasn't much chance of him locating another medic willing to complete his training.

'This is not it,' he told himself angrily.

_**Maybe you're reason why all the doors are closed**_

_**So you could open one that leads you to the perfect road**_

_**Like a lightning bolt, your heart will blow**_

_**And when it's time, you'll know**_

'Can't hurt...'

Vorns had passed since his mentor had left him behind for a hopeless mission. No one had heard anything from any of the mech's that had gone that day, and many of them were sure that wherever they had gone – they were gone.

"What are you doing, medic?" A harsh femme voice broke through his half thoughts.

"What's left here, Arcee?" He turned to the femme, the frustration of vorns of fighting their lost cause showing all throughout her frame. Jolt couldn't think of all the times he'd had to piece her back together. "We're fighting for a scrap, for trash run by drones."

"You think there's something else out there?" She was hopeful that the young medic had something good for her to hear, some glimmer of hope for them to cling to, but she had been disappointed too many times.

"I don't know what's out there, but I know that there's a chance that there _is_ something out there. There's nothing here."

"You're not going without us." Sideswipe came to stand beside the worn femme. His frame also showed the wear of vorns of fighting with a diminishing hope – but he seemed to bear it better, turning the weariness into defiance.

"Yeah! We's goin too!" Skids and Mudflap scrambled over each other trying to be the first to reach the slowly gathering assembly of tired 'bots.

"All of you? You all want to just abandon our home for the unknown? We could all be deactivated floating in the nothingness of space..."

"Or we could be deactivated here, with our shells full of holes and our innards rusting out. Doesn't seem like a give or take situation." Chromia snarked from somewhere behind Arcee.

"You started something, medic." Arcee smiled, it had been a long time since she had found a reason to actually smile.

"I hope you're ready to follow through with it," Sideswipe challenged.

_**You just gotta ignite the light and let it shine**_

_**Just own the night like the 4th of July**_

Getting everything and everyone together hadn't been simple. It had actually taken several long and hard orns to get everything set. Several setbacks had hit them in the form of Decepticon attacks on their launch sites.

The half thought notion of a self-made medic had turned into a full movement. There were several teams of worn out Autobots prepared to launch to the stars, with little chance of finding anything, but prepared to take the chance.

His only hope was that someone would find something worthy of this last ditch effort. "Let's go."

_**'Cause baby you're a firework**_

_**Come on, show 'em what you're worth**_

_**Make 'em go, oh**_

_**As you shoot across the sky**_

To say that space was interesting would have been to say that Decepticons were good at spark. They were board out of their processors; however, not a one of them would complain. The down time was much needed, and they couldn't turn away the chance to let their systems take the opportunity to make repairs that had gone undone for vorns because the energy simply couldn't be spared.

Some 'bots dropped off along the way, choosing some rather out of the way planets to set check points on for others that may pass. It seemed like a good idea considering how aimlessly they were all wondering the 'verses. However, as the numbers dropped, so did hopes of the few 'bots still searching.

::What do you think, Jolt?:: Sideswipe asked. He didn't want to settle down on some dust-ball planet, but he wasn't sure how he felt about wondering space for the rest of his life.

::I'm not thinking, Sides. I'm working.:: Along the way, Jolt had managed to recover bits and pieces of equipment. He had silently been compiling something, though no one had known what.

::What?:: Arcee looked over the small medic. She had seen him gather small items, but she figured it was some time-passing hobby he had acquired – not an actual project.

::Just...wait.:: Jolt couldn't stop his internal smirk. He was almost sure his little project would be a success now, so he didn't mind the others being curious. They could wait for the surprise though.

_**Baby, you're a firework**_

_**Come on, let your colors burst**_

_**Make 'em go, oh**_

_**You're gonna leave 'em falling down**_

'This had better work...' Sending a small probe a few feet from him. The others were in a semi-recharge state and did not notice the small device. They still didn't wake when pale blue electricity crawled through a slim wire connecting Jolt to his project. However, when a familiar voice boomed through the space they occupied, everyone came to full awareness.

_ ::I am Optimus Prime...::_

::What was that?:: Chromia barked as her scanners set themselves to high, searching for the signal that had broadcast in their space. Finding only a small probe, she was only further confused.

::Do you need your audios checked? That was Optimus.:: Jolt couldn't keep his amusement from his voice. It had worked, and now they had something to go on.

::But...how?:: Sideswipe also scanned the small probe. ::Is _that_ what you've been working on?::

Arcee nudged Jolt with her excitement. ::Why didn't you tell us?::

::Because I wasn't sure it would work, and it seemed rather pointless to get everyone hopeful over it.::

::But it _does_ work!:: Arcee chirped. ::Can you pinpoint the signal?::

::It's going to take some time, but...I'm pretty sure I can.:: 'So long as I can keep up the energy feed,' he added to himself. It was something none of them wanted to discuss, but they were all running low on energy.

_::I send this message to any surviving Autobots taking refuge among the stars; We are here, we are waiting.::_

_**Boom, boom, boom**_

_**Even brighter than the moon, moon moon**_

_**It's always been inside of you, you, you**_

_**And now it's time to let it through**_

Entering the Earth's atmosphere had been startling. None of them had quite expected the atmosphere to be as it was – heavy in so many different gasses, causing friction on their outer shells, yet still thin enough to not affect their momentum much. So, as fiery balls of hot shells, they slammed into the surface of the planet they had been called to by a single transmission.

"Boss 'bot had better really be here," Mudflap groaned as he pulled himself out of his landing crater. "Cause I ain't never wanna do that again!"

"Shut up, Mudflap," Sideswipe growled as he helped Arcee from her crater.

Jolt quickly looked over all the 'bots that had accompanied him, making sure the rough landing hadn't caused anyone more harm than what their own systems could handle.

"So...who's going to be the one to make initial contact?" Chromia stretched her joints. In most cases, she would haven't had hesitated to reach out to any other Autobot, but the long separation from their faction – their defiance in abandoning their home world to seek out something, _anything_ else – left her feeling a bit timid. Would their comrades be relieved to see them, or count them as traitors for abandoning their post.

Sideswipe, being quick-witted as ever easily shifted the burden to someone else. "You brought us here, medic. You do it."

"Buncha' sparklings." Jolt sighed. In truth, he was just as nervous as the rest of them, not that he would let it be known. ::This is Autobot medic Jolt attempting to make contact with Earth-based Autobot faction. Is there anyone out there?::

They all waited, all intakes suspended in lieu of anticipation.

::Repeat; this is Autobot medic...::

::Last I heard, you were still just an aide in training, Jolt.::

All of his anxiety melted away. Even with his rough no-nonsense tone, Jolt recognized the one voice he knew he could never forget. ::Technically...I still am, Ratchet.:: He could also tell when his mentor was angry, and when he was happy to hear from someone he thought he may never hear from again.

::We're already on our way to rendezvous with your team. Who is with you?::

_**'Cause baby you're a firework**_

_**Come on, show 'em what you're worth**_

_**Make 'em go, oh**_

_**As you shoot across the sky**_

It didn't take long for the new arrivals to be fully caught up on the situation on this world. It also wasn't long before the coveted peace they were fighting for blew up in a spectacular show of Unmaker-spawned spite.

The human child that had been the Autobot savior was endangered. Megatron had been revived, and Optimus had been deactivated. The humans that were supposed to be their allies were quarantining them to an island in the middle of a tropical ocean – leaving them completely open to attack from their enemies, even if the humans ordering and enforcing it didn't seem to understand the tactical error of their actions – and stranding them with few options.

Then, there had been the whispers; some of the humans that seemed more closely befriended of the Autobots spoke of some contact with the hunted boy and some place called 'Egypt'. What had the Autobot's attention though, was the rumor that the boy had some clue as to how to revive their Prime again.

"Of course we'll go," Ironhide growled from his place tucked under a shipping net.

"We don't really have anything else to lose," Jolt stated matter-of-factually.

The muttered agreements from all the other Autobots sealed the deal. The humans – the ones that were their true allies, the ones that had fought beside them, bled beside them, lost comrades beside them – were going to defy their orders and take them to their final hope.

_**Baby, you're a firework**_

_**Come on, let your colors burst**_

_**Make 'em go, oh**_

_**You're gonna leave 'em falling down**_

"You're not leaving me behind again, Ratchet." Jolt warned as they prepared to jump from the plain they had been trapped on for the past few hours.

"Jolt, there's no guarantee of success..."

"And if it all blows up, I'd really rather be right in the middle of it all rather than left to suffer a slow death at the hands of hopeless struggle. You're _not_ leaving me behind."

Ratchet was stunned by Jolt's rather dark outlook, but he couldn't argue with it. After discovering the truth of what remained of Cybertron, especially after the destruction of the Allspark, he couldn't say he didn't feel guilt for leaving anyone behind to suffer the death of their world. It would have been far kinder to send them aimlessly to space instead. "Very well," he consented softly, "but you do as I say. Clear?"

"I'm not a fledgeling anymore, Ratchet."

"You're still my underling. You will do as I say, or you will stay here."

Several less than respectful comments came to him that moment, but Jolt sagely kept them to himself. "I will follow orders."

"Good."

_**Boom, boom, boom**_

_**Even brighter than the moon, moon, moon**_

_**Boom, boom, boom**_

_**Even brighter than the moon, moon, moon**_

Jolt did as he was told. It felt good to be back under his mentor's supervision, but at the same time, he had things to show of his vorns on his own. Ratchet may only know him as the semi awkward medic that he had left behind on Cybertron, but Jolt had every intention of introducing him to the self-made medic that had survived the death of their planet.

When the Prime stood, his donated parts fully attached and providing him with a much needed energy infusion, Jolt could not have been prouder of himself and his mentor. They had succeeded. Now, so long as Optimus held up through this final fight, maybe they could say the same of today's battle.


End file.
